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Thanks Aneel for the news on Alfred Peet’s passing. He was 87 years old. He was a revolutionary, a visionary, and a pastor (one of the most important people who helped me connect with God). Thank you for helping me wake-up, enjoy a fine pleasure of life, and be alert throughout the day. May we all enjoy a good cup of joe today in his honor!
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With Saddam Hussein’s execution, comes an end to an era. For many Iraqis, they had grown up and “adored” Saddam, and now they witness that some sort of justice has been served with the conviction and execution of the former leader. We do not often witness the death of such despots. We have seen brutal dictators like Milosevic and Pinochet die of natural causes and never come to the end of the justice process (not that the culmination of the justice process is execution).
I am not a supporter of capital punishment (by the way, neither is the current president of Iraq–Talabani), but there are certain situations that come up that challenge my ethics, and this is one of them. I am sure that for many people (mostly Iraqis and Iranians and not Americans), there is a sense of satisfaction to see this man finally pay with his life for his crimes against humanity.
The trial against Saddam was pretty much a sham–not because it was done unfairly, but because we all knew what the end result would be. The evidence against Saddam is overwhelming. So while Bush hailed the trial as “the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime”, most people knew that the trial did not have any sort of premise of “innocent until proven guilty.”
Geopolitically, it made sense to have Saddam in power. Morally, it was not. Sure he committed crimes against humanity, but will there ever be an account for the affects of the American-led war in Iraq that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people?
What is more important is to pray and focus on the future of Iraq, believing God for reconciliation when all evidence suggests otherwise. Today marks the end of an era, and an opportunity to hope for a better future. May God do a new thing in Iraq!
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A couple days ago, Rhoda and I excitedly went up to “The City” (San Francisco for all of you non-Northern California folk) to visit the FAO Schwartz store by Union Square. This is an exciting time to be in San Francisco, as the square is transformed to host the holiday spirit. We walked around the square looking for the toy store, which we recalled to be off one of its corners.
After walking the perimeter once and having not seen it, we asked someone for directions, only to be told that the store has been shut down for two years. That depressed me more than having had to pay $14 for 3 hours of parking. When I got home, I did a little research, and found out that the toy store (made famous in the Tom Hanks classic movie ‘Big’) has been sold and bankrupt (twice in 2003). There are two stores still open–New York and Las Vegas.
The store used to have everything a kid would want. It was a fantastic place to play (of course, the floor piano would always be a staple of a visit). So we settled for dinner in the city, and then made our way to a popular suburban chain toy store that pales in comparison.
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